As expected, Salisbury and Towson will meet for the Capital Conference championship once again as both won semifinal games this weekend.

Towson, ranked 2nd in the conference, defeated conference #3 Georgetown 38-22 to move on, while Salisbury defeated UMBC 81-20.

Photos by Colleen McCloskey.

For Towson, it wasn’t an easy game. The teams were deadlocked 17-17 at halftime as the big Goergetown forwards tested Towson’s defense.

“We dominated time of possession,” said Towson Head Coach Don Stone. “But we had 29 penalties and kept them in the game with our mistakes.”

Cutting out the penalties and errors, Towson outscored Georgetown 21-5 in the second half.

The game was won because we have excellent balance between our forwards and backs.  When one group is struggling, the other group picks them up.  When we play together – we are very tough to beat.

Meanwhile, Salisbury cruised with a fairly young lineup.

UMBC actually took an early lead and had to be wondering if they could pull off the upset of upsets. 

“We took some time to get going since for most it was their first time together,” said Salisbury Coach Bill Creese. 

Seniors Nick Rodriguez and Joel Henry settled the team down and they started to focus on their game plan. 

In the second half, Salisbury’s fitness took over and the Sharks scored 51 points. 

First-year prop Prince Etemeyo scored three tries, and freshman outside center Justin Manko also scored three, s did Rodriguez at flyhalf.

Sopomhore No. 8 Jimmy Gasper scored two tries.

Both Towson and Salisbury were able to rest some experienced starters, so will have a full strength side for the Capital final. Both teams will move on to the national playoffs, as Capital #2 will have a play-in game with the #2 team from the Southern Conference.